Chronic Illness

125 articles
by Christopher Leighton

‘Disability’ glaringly absent from federal cabinet portfolios

On May 13, Prime Minister Carney announced his new cabinet of 28 cabinet ministers and 10 secretaries of states, yet incredibly left Canadians with disabilities without any overt representation.

by Craig Earle

Equity isn’t optional – it is essential to solving Canada’s cancer problem

Without addressing inequity, we will never be able to solve the cancer problem in Canada.

by Nilah Ahimsadasan

When care doesn’t translate

For South Asian communities, improved care means earlier screening, culturally relevant guidance and meaningful language access. Without these changes, we risk continuing a pattern of preventable harm.

by Danielle Penney

‘This Will Make You a Better Doctor’

As medical trainees, we spend years learning to care for patients. But absolutely nothing prepared me to be a doctor better than being a patient.

by James Dickinson

It’s not just the measles . . .

Many have forgotten how serious infections from Measules, Mumps, Rubella and Varicella can be because we have not seen them for many years. I am reminded every day by my mumps-induced deafness.

by Laurie Proulx

Breathing for both of us

I walked into the obstetrics unit – 36 weeks pregnant, out of breath and scared. I had been here before, but this time was different.

by Blake Murdoch David Elfstrom Zack Deis

The simple metal box that could change the world

This quiet, repairable metal air cleaner is an inexpensive long-term disease prevention tool for public spaces.

by Timothy Caulfield

Vaccine safety, politics and the nocebo effect

The nocebo effect has an important role to play in vaccine uptake and safety. We must vigorously counter the misinformation and political spin that helps to fuel the accelerating vaccine concern vortex.

by Indu Subramanian

Decades after it was declared eliminated, I fear the heartbreaking, avoidable consequences of measles

Fatal encephalitis from measles technically and biologically could be abolished as a human disease. Yet, I fear the downstream consequences of what the anti-vaccine movement could bring.

by Maddi Dellplain

How health care works in Canada: What to know ahead of the federal election

With voters heading to the polls on April 28, we figured it’s time for a refresher on how health policy is made and where the parties stand.

by Elaine Hu

No physician should be punished for advocating for life-saving services during the toxic drug crisis

As a young doctor-in-training, I feel obligated to speak out against Island Health's unethical treatment of Jessica Wilder.

by Jackie Manthorne

Want to know where we are with cancer care? Don’t ask Ontario

A provincial election and talk of tariffs have taken up much of Ontario’s attention recently but we shouldn’t lose sight of that other problem: health care.

by Macha Lopez

Public health is dead. As artists, we share some of the responsibility

As a writer who lived with Long Covid for two years, today more than ever, I think it is essential for artists to acknowledge and challenge a pandemic-shaped cultural vacuum.

by Maurice Feldman

Ontario must address the autism crisis. 60,000 children are waiting for care

Despite billions allocated for autism services, many families are still waiting – sometimes for years. To fix Ontario’s autism services, we should redirect resources toward programs that have been proven to work.

by Blake Murdoch

 How denial of airborne COVID transmission broke the world

Five years later, the greatest basic science failure in generations caused the pandemic harms highlighted by people across the political spectrum, and broke our social cohesion.

by Sabina Vohra-Miller

With the U.S. sidelined, it’s critical we monitor avian flu outbreak

As the avian flu outbreak continues to evolve, it is critical for us to continue monitoring, testing and surveillance, especially as cuts are made to funding and research is gagged south of the border.

by Jasmine Ryu Won Kang

‘Nobody prepares you for this part of the journey’: Four women discuss life after breast cancer

Breast cancer rates are increasing for women in their 20s to 40s. Four women share how life looks after breast cancer and how they contended with challenges they never saw coming.

by Maddi Dellplain

Charity fills the gap in pet fostering services for struggling community members in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside

For The Homies - Downtown Eastside Pet Support Society is a new grassroots organization offering much-needed pet fostering and other pet services for community members and their furry friends.

by Karine Diedrich

Empowering choices: The importance of advance care planning

Advance care planning empowers individuals to have their health-care preferences honoured, offering peace of mind to both themselves and their loved ones. Yet, despite the importance of these conversations, many people delay or avoid them altogether.

by Elliott Brierley Dina Shenouda

‘We do not need compassionate care: We need a country that cares with compassion’

Conservative politicians have pushed for involuntary treatment, often termed "compassionate care." While compassionate care seems like the easiest answer, the policy is problematic.

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